A Democrat appears to be in striking distance of representing Texas in the U.S. Senate, according to a new poll.
Democratic candidate Rep. Beto O’Rourke is only four percentage points behind incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a NBC News/Marist poll found Wednesday. About 45 percent of registered voters support O’Rourke, a congressman from El Paso, while just less than half would cast a ballot to return Cruz to the Senate for a second term.
The contest between the two men is close even among independent voters. About 46 percent would support O’Rourke as opposed to 45 percent who would back Cruz.
O’Rourke has become a fundraising powerhouse as Democrats hope to turn the red state blue, raising more than double that of his opponent with $10.4 million in the second quarter of 2018.
Although Wednesday’s poll suggests momentum in his favor, O’Rourke is still 6 percentage points behind Cruz in RealClearPolitics’ poll aggregator.
NBC News/Marist surveyed 970 adults, 759 of whom are registered voters, from Aug. 12-16. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
